It is often said, that God’s love is unconditional. And there is a real sense in which God’s unconditional love is true. God does in His general, unconditional love, love all mankind. This can be seen in a number of ways but is clearly illustrated in Matthew 5:43-46.
Matthew 5:43-46 (ESV) 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
This was a new thought to the Jewish leaders who were listening in… “You mean I am to love my enemies?” Here, Jesus is making the point, that you are never more like God than when you love your enemies (so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. vs. 45a). He showers His unconditional love on all. “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (vs.45b). This is called “common grace.” It is common because God shows His favor on the just and the unjust alike. It is grace because none of us deserve it but receive His general favor unconditionally. We deserve His righteous and immediate justice instead.
Then, to contrast the love taught by the Pharisees, our Lord in verse forty-six reminds them that to show love only to those who love you makes you no better than the tax collectors you hated.
What we see here in common grace, is that God loves those who don’t love Him. This is a remarkable and uncommon love. It is one that we don’t naturally express and yet God does. Our natural response to those who are our enemies is that which was taught by the Pharisees (vs.43), hatred.
God’s general love, His common grace, is not natural to man but it is with God. We have to be taught that we are to love those who hate us. God by His very nature loves those who hate and scorn Him. For He loves a rebellious humanity. Truly, God is love!
Once we understand the character of God and our rebellion as a race against Him, it is not hard for us to see His forbearance in love (Romans 2;4; 2 Peter 3:8-10). We get up in the morning by the grace of God. We breathe by the grace of God, We have our being by the grace of God (Acts 17:28). And yet, many don’t recognize this generous forbearing love from God.
The whole of creation is ours to enjoy at His hand. And in His general love, we find enjoyment with what He has created and done. Whether it be the enjoyment of food, the comforts of our society, the beauty of marriage and the joy of children, and a host of other common life experiences, we are the recipients of the expression of God’s love for humanity. There can be no question we see God’s unconditional love for the just and the unjust alike that is expressed by His forbearance and his goodness.
Acts 14:16-17 (ESV) 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”
In His general love, God also demonstrates compassionate love toward the lost.
Ezekiel 18:32 (ESV) 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”
Jonah 4:10-11 (ESV) 10 And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
We see this also, as Jesus at the end of His ministry, upon seeing the city of Jerusalem, weeps over the judgment which will soon come upon them for their rejection of Him.
Matthew 23:37 (ESV) 37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Even in their murderous rebellion that would find its culmination in the crucifixion of Jesus, He wept over them. He loved His enemies!
So it is today that we live in a world that is ever growing in its rejection of Christ, even in spite of the greater light of revelation found in Christ (John 1:9) and the Scriptures. We enjoy His common grace with the ever-expanding comfort of our society and technology that ultimately comes from the hand of God. And it is that very comfort and technology that we enjoy, that from a lost world brings greater rebellion against the One who provided those pleasures.
But there is a warning for us. God’s general love, His common grace, will not last forever.
2 Peter 3:8-13 (ESV) 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Hebrews 12:25-29 (ESV) 25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
While it is in His general love that many will harden their hearts, God’s goodness can and does lead men to salvation in Christ.
Romans 2:4 (ESV) 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
-Michael Holtzinger